Introduction
The official name is the Italian Republic. It consists of a boot-shaped peninsula and the two islands of Sicily and Sardinia, spanning about 1,200 km from northwest to southeast in the central Mediterranean. It borders the Alps to the north and borders France, Switzerland, and Austria; to the east is the Adriatic Sea; and to the west is the Tyrrhenian Sea. Due to its geographical location, it grew in the past by spreading Eastern culture to the West, leading to a renaissance in European culture. It is an advanced country with well-developed agriculture, industry, and service industries and is a member of the OECD and G7. Italy has an administrative system consisting of 15 regular regions (Regione) and 5 autonomous regions (Regione Autonoma).
Geography of italy
Italy is rich in mountains and hills, and plains only make up about 1/5 of the country’s land area. The largest plain is the Po Plain (55,000 ㎢), and smaller plains such as the Campania Plain (1,900 ㎢) are scattered. Italy is geographically divided into four parts: the Alps, the Po Plains, the Peninsula, and the Islands.
The Alps region refers to the mountainous area south of the Alps Mountains from the western end to the eastern end. The Alps were an obstacle for Italy to advance into continental Europe. However, the plains south of the Alps helped develop Italian agriculture. To the west, there are numerous passes over 2,000 meters high, including Mont Blanc (4807m) as well as the Saint-Bernard Pass (2469m), between Italy and Switzerland, and the Alps to the west also cross between France and Italy. To the east, numerous mountains extend all the way to Trieste, forming a border with Austria. In the foothills of the Alps, there are lakes such as Maggiore, Lugano, Como, and Garda, which are filled with water melting from the Alps’ ice caps.
The Po Plain in the Po River basin is about 400 km long from east to west and 100 to 200 km wide from north to south, and is surrounded in a U shape by the two mountain ranges of the Alps and Apennines on three sides, and faces the Adriatic Sea on the east. To the northeast, it meets the Venetian Plain and borders the mountains of Slovenia’s karst region. Due to the high western plains, the Po River flows from west to east into the Adriatic Sea. The Po River Plain is a fertile plain that forms a rice farming area. In addition, the canal network has developed and plays a major role not only in agriculture but also in industrial water and maritime transportation. Meanwhile, sedimentation was so active that no major cities other than Turin developed, and due to the construction of embankments, the water level of the river reached the level of the roof of a house in downstream Ferrara.
The peninsula is divided into northern, central, and southern parts. The Appennino Mountains, which run from north to south and are the spine of the peninsula, form a convex surface toward the east. Wide hilly areas appear at both east and west ends of the mountain range, playing an important role in forming living areas. The northern part extends from the north of Genoa to the lower elevation of the main branch of the Tevere River in Rome. The central part of the peninsula extends from the Bay of Naples to the north of Mount Gargano (1,056 m). The central mountain range is formed as a gentle mountain range.
The Central Apennines are generally rugged and contain a lot of Mesozoic limestone, so karst landforms appear everywhere and lowlands such as the Fuchino Lake Basin are distributed. To the south, it consists of several mountains. To the east is the Abruzzi Mountains, home to Mount Corno (2914m), the highest mountain in the Apennines. This place is mainly composed of tuff and volcanic rocks, and there are many beautiful volcanic cones, making it a tourist area. Mount Albano (950m) south of Rome is a volcano and has a new crater on its outer ring. To the west of Mount Albano lies a lowland area that extends to the Campanian Plain near Naples. This plain is the most important on the peninsula and is composed mostly of volcanic sediments, but to the north is the alluvium of the Volturno River. On the coast of the Bay of Naples is Mount Vesuvius (1281m).
Sicily, the largest of the Italian islands, is geographically divided into three regions: the mountains connected to the central Apennines, the surrounding hills, and Mount Etna (3,323m). Mount Etna is Europe’s tallest volcano and has over 260 parasitic volcanoes. The second largest island, Sardinia, along with Corsica Island, is a landform that was submerged in the sea and then exposed to land, and the crystalline rocks of the Western Alps extend here. At the northern end of the Tyrrhenian Sea is the ancient island of Elba, and at the southern end is the volcanic Lipari Islands. Two volcanoes, Vulcano and Stromboli, are active within the Lipari Islands.
Most of Italy’s geology is composed of rocks from the Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras, and crystalline rocks formed before that exist as individual massifs inside the Apennine Mountains, excluding the high peaks of the Alps. Italy is a country with unstable ground, so there are many earthquakes. In particular, the 1908 Messina earthquake, which occurred due to a fault in the Strait of Messina, was very strong and caused 110,000 casualties. In addition, the phenomenon of uplift and subsidence also appeared, and land uplift was proven through the remains of Roman architecture at Pozzuoli in the Bay of Naples.
Medieval and Renaissance history of Italy
The Middle Ages are classified as a dark period in Italian history. The Odoacer Kingdom, which had overthrown Western Rome, was later toppled again by the Goths and Lombards who moved to Italy. The Lombard Kingdom, which ruled almost all of Italy except for a few southern regions, was destroyed in 756 by Pippin III of the Frankish Kingdom at the request of the Pope. Pepin III, who destroyed the Lombard Kingdom, donated the Ravenna region to the Pope, which was the beginning of the Papal States. Pepin’s son, Charlemagne, gave the Pope a large territory, including Rome, in 781, making the Pope a secular monarch, and Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne the first emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in 800. Afterwards, the feudal rule system of the Holy Roman Empire began in Italy, excluding the Papal States, under the name of the Kingdom of Italy.
The conflict between the Holy Roman Emperor and the Pope became serious after the 9th century. The Italian cities were divided into two groups: the Ghibellins and the Guelphs. In 1176, northern and central cities, dissatisfied with the intervention of the Holy Roman Empire, formed the Lombard League and defeated the army of Frederick I (Frederick Barbarossa: Redbeard the Great), Holy Roman Emperor of the Hohenstaufenga. After winning the war against the Holy Roman Empire, these cities gained autonomy and began to develop independently. As a result, the Italian city-state system that led the Renaissance began to emerge.
On the other hand, the southern region, which was incorporated into the territory of the Eastern Roman Empire, was invaded by Islamic forces after the 7th century, and in 827, Tunisian Islamic forces occupied Sicily, which was under Byzantine rule, and ruled it for two centuries. Islamic rule in Sicily contributed to the fusion of Christian and Islamic cultures in the region. Islamic rule ended with the Normans entering Sicily in the 11th century. The Normans came to southern Italy as pilgrims, mercenaries, or crusaders starting in the early 11th century and established a dynasty.
Southern Italy prospered through the fusion of Western European-style feudal system, Byzantine-style bureaucracy, and Arab culture, and enjoyed its peak during the era of Frederick II of the Hohenstaufen family, who was also related by blood to the King of Sicily and the Holy Roman Emperor. Afterwards, Southern Italy was ruled by the French Anjou, and then by the Spanish family of Aragon.
In the northern region, cities that gained autonomy from the Holy Roman Empire created a unique political system called Comune. After Frederick I was defeated by the Lombard City League, an era of prosperity at the comune level began, and inland cities such as Florence, Milan, and Lucca developed along with Venice and Genoa. However, at the same time, friction between cities, confrontation between ordinary citizens who lived in the city, who were employed in commerce and industry, and landed aristocrats, and in addition, conflict between the emperor and the Pope intensified, becoming a social problem.
In order to promote order and stability in the city, the so-called Signoria system, which delegates full power of municipal administration to a specific influential person, appeared in Milan and other small cities, and Florence, which formally advocated a republican system, was in fact under the rule of the Medici family. came under control. The ruling class, including the Medici family, received protection from the palace and the Pope, and as a result, the city found stability, came into contact with the high-level culture of the East, expanded its horizons, and the worldly and rational consciousness of merchants was heightened, leading to the birth of Renaissance culture. .
In the 15th century, a war broke out between the Duchy of Milan and Venice over the succession rights of the Carlo Sforza family in the Duchy of Milan, and behind the war was the issue of which city-state would take hegemony in northern Italy. After the peace agreement between Milan and Venice was signed in 1454, a balance of power was established between the city-states of Milan, Venice, Florence, and Naples and the Papal States, but in 1494, the Italian War over the issue of succession to the throne of the Kingdom of Naples led to conflict again. It was released. The Italian War, in which France, the Holy Roman Empire, Spain, and the Ottoman Empire joined in, lasted until 1559 and ended with a Spanish victory, putting the Italian city-states under Spanish rule. After the war over the succession to the Spanish throne in 1701, the central and northern regions The city-states came under Austrian control, and the southern kingdoms of Sicily and Naples came under French control.
Parliament and political parties
The highest organ of national sovereignty in the Italian Republic is the National Assembly, which consists of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Both the Senate and the House of Representatives are elected by universal suffrage for five-year terms. Congress appoints the president, gives confidence to the government, and impeaches the president and ministers. In addition to approving legislation, budget, and settlement of accounts, it also has authority over propaganda, general mobilization, ambassadors, and treaty ratification. It is similar to other parliamentary countries in that it is composed of the upper and lower houses, but the authority of both houses is the same, and it is unique in that a joint session of both houses is used in the case of presidential impeachment. Legislation is made by agreement between both houses, and bills are submitted by the executive branch, the Senate, the House of Representatives, and voters (more than 50,000 signatures). The regular council is convened in February and October, and there is a separate extraordinary council. A referendum is held upon the request of more than 500,000 voters or five or more state councils regarding the repeal of a law.
The election law for electing the Senate and House of Representatives has been revised several times. From 1946 to 1993, a pure proportional representation system was applied. The country was divided into 32 constituencies, and seats were assigned to each constituency in proportion to population. 90% of the lawmakers were elected in each constituency, and the remaining 10% of the members were elected at the national level by counting the votes that did not vote for the elected members. It was distributed by proportional representation. This pure proportional representation system has resulted in the proliferation of political parties, political instability, and widening the gap between political parties and citizens. In Italy, this is called ‘party dominance system (Partitocrazia)’.
The 1994 election was a method of electing 75% through a simple majority system and the remaining 25% through proportional representation. In the case of the Senate, 232 people were elected through a simple majority method through one person, one vote, and the rest were elected members. The votes that were not cast were collected and elected as proportional representation by region. In the case of the House of Representatives, a one-person, two-vote system was chosen, where one vote is for a candidate and the second vote is for a political party. This election law was a radical change from previous election laws. In the 1994 elections held in accordance with the revised election law, Italy’s political party system changed to a two-party structure, and the subsequent political system is called the Second Republic.
The third election law revision occurred in 2005 and the system was converted to proportional representation by political parties. It had the justification of seeking political stability by allowing the first political party to secure a majority of seats, but it was a winner-takes-all system that Prime Minister Berlusconi at the time had set to his advantage in order to regain power, and it was maintained until 2015.
The most recent revision took place in October 2017. The new electoral law, called Rosatellum after the lawmaker Ettore Rosato who introduced the amendment, was finalized in 2017 and applied to the March 2018 elections. Following the defeat of the referendum on downsizing the Senate, the new election law applies equally to the Senate and the House of Representatives. The election method is a mixture of simple majority representation and proportional representation.
The Senate consists of 315 elected members and lifetime senators appointed by the president. All states elect seven or more senators in proportion to the state’s population, with the states of Valle d’Aosta and Molise producing one and two senators, respectively. Additionally, about six seats are allocated to represent Italians living abroad.
Voting is done through a one-person, two-vote system, with about 40% of the seats being elected through first-past-the-post voting in the constituencies, and about 60% being elected through proportional representation through the largest remainder method. is elected as The six senators representing Italians living abroad are elected by proportional representation. The lifetime senators are made up of former presidents and five or more citizens who have achieved outstanding achievements. These citizen senators for life are appointed by the President.
The House of Representatives consists of 630 members, 12 of whom are elected from overseas constituencies. The House of Representatives follows a tradition that has been passed down since the Kingdom of Italy, making it an institution with a longer history and tradition than the Senate. Therefore, the title ‘Honourable’ is given to members of the House of Representatives. The House of Representatives has been located in the Palazzo Montecitorio since 1871.
Similar to the Senate, elections for members of the House of Representatives are based on the one-person, two-vote system, and about 40% of them are elected through a simple majority vote in single-member constituencies, and about 60% of them are elected by national proportional representation using the maximum remainder method in central constituencies. The 12 seats reserved for Italians living abroad are elected by proportional representation.
Italy is a typical multi-party country. More than 100 political parties, including regional parties, form a wide spectrum from the extreme left to the extreme right. Until the Cold War, three parties – the Christian Democratic Party (PD), the Socialist Party (PSI), and the Communist Party (PCI) – competed, but since the mid-1990s, numerous parties have been ruling through party coalitions, with no party showing absolute superiority. This is the result of abolishing the pure proportional representation system through the revision of the Election Act in 1994 and mixing the simple majority representation system with the proportional representation system in which political parties that obtained more than 4% of the vote participate.
Since the 1990s, each political party has participated in elections mainly through party coalitions. For the center-right, the Polo delle Libertà in 1994, Polo per le Libertà in 1996, Casa delle Libertà in 2001, Casa delle Libertà in 2006, Center-right parties united and ran for election under the names of Il Popolo della Libertà in 2008, Il Popolo della Libertà in 2013, and Center Right Coalition in 2018. On the other hand, the center-left party participated in elections under the names of L’Ulivo in 1996, 1998, and 2001, Unione in 2006, and the Democratic Party-led Left Coalition in 2008, 2013, and 2018.
The major political parties currently active include Forza Italia (Forza Italia), Lega Nord (Lega Nord), and Fratelli d’Italia (Brothers of Italy). The Forward Italy Party is a political party created by businessman Berlusconi by bringing together the existing Christian Democratic Party and Socialist Party forces for the 1994 elections. Although it is a conservative party because it was created based on interests, it does not have a clear conservative ideology. Over time, each faction broke away and its size was reduced, but it has led the right-wing coalition from 1994 to the present. The official name of the Northern Alliance is the Northern Alliance for the Independence of Padania (Lega Nord per l’indipendenza della Padania), but it is commonly called the League (Lega). Founded in 1991 as a coalition of political parties in the northern region, the Alliance grew under the leadership of Umberto Bossi. The Confederacy advocates federalism, but sometimes advocates secession of the North. It is a strong right-wing party that takes a firm stance on immigration issues. It is the largest political party in the northern region and grew to become the third largest party in the 2018 elections, after the Five Star Movement and the Democratic Party. The Brothers of Italy party is a nationalist right-wing party that inherited the legacy of the Italian Social Movement (Movimento Socialista Italiano), which was a fascist party. In 1995, it participated in a right-wing coalition under the name of the National Alliance (Alleanza Nazionale), which disbanded in 2009 and joined the People’s Coalition for Freedom, but split again in 2012. It gains support mainly in the southern region. The center-left political party is the Democratic Party (Partito Democratic Party). It is a social democratic party and was formed in 2007 by gathering various left-wing parties that previously participated in the center-left coalition. It grew into the second largest political party in the 2018 elections. Lastly, the Five Star Movement (Movimento 5 Stelle) is a populist political party founded in 2009 by comedian Beppe Grillo. It grew based on the public popularity of Grillo, who criticized the existing system, especially Prime Minister Berlusconi. Although it received the most votes among political parties in the 2013 election, it only fielded 109 members of the House of Representatives due to election laws. In 2018, it became the largest political party in Italy, but its political ideology is evaluated as ambiguous.
The President of Italy is the head of the state and a symbol of national unity, and is elected by a joint session of both the Senate and the House of Representatives for a seven-year term. Voting is conducted by secret ballot and lasts up to three times. The person who receives more than two-thirds of the votes in the first vote is elected president. In the second vote, a candidate is elected if he or she receives a simple majority. The president represents Italy as head of state, is commander-in-chief of the military, and has the power to declare war as decided by Congress and to receive diplomatic missions. It can demand the dissolution of parliament and early general elections, and presides over the Supreme Judicial Council. It appoints the prime minister, the head of the executive branch, and appoints ministers recommended by the prime minister. After leaving office, the president is appointed president for life and becomes a senator for life. Under the Italian constitution, there are no limits on a president’s ability to serve a second term, but he customarily did not seek a second term. However, the 11th President Giorgio Napoletano, who took office in May 2006, was elected president again in 2013 for the first time in history, but resigned in January 2015.
Conclusion
It is a peninsula country located in south-central Europe and, along with Greece, is the origin of European civilization. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century, the country was divided but was unified by the Kingdom of Sardinia in 1861. Italy, which abolished the monarchy and became a republic in 1946, is a cultural powerhouse with a developed cultural heritage, art, and music left behind by the Roman Empire.